Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - Maurice

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Maurice by E.M. Forster

14 reviews

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was very positively surprised by this book.

I must say, that my hopes weren't too high after The Picture of Dorian Gray was so infamously known for it's early homosexual representation, which imprisoned Oscar Wilde. Although the uncensored version includes a tirade of a clearly homosexual confession, the remaining book was really just Dorian being corrupted by his own and others' obsession with his beauty. Which is gay, but not homosexual.
However, that was not the case here! Forster did not try to hide a clearly homosexual story behind something else — it's very explicitly about Maurice's journey to finding himself.

It's written well and it was surprisingly efficient for a classic. I often feel like classics have a lot of ... irrelevant tirades to show off the author's education and intellect. I was never bored or felt urgent to skip parts during this read.

As for the characters, they all clearly have issues. I do love that there are flawed characters here. Maurice is explicitly described as a dumbass every other chapter.
And on that note, I find the balance with humour especially pleasant. The dialogue is very realistic to me and I like how it reflects human nature.

It's not too long and it was a great read to get me out of a reading slump.
It's noteworthy that I'm a gay man myself and might find the book slightly more engaging than others, but anyone with an interest in classical romance dramas would enjoy this. It has the forbidden love, classism, the internal conflict, betrayal, and all that, only with two men rather than a woman and a man.

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affectionatelyrs's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Such a beautiful, tragic story. Makes me ache for my queer family members in spirit who still have to live the way Maurice and Clive did in the 1900s. Alec is my beloved.

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james1star's review

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Wow. This book was truly an amazing read and one I’d totally recommend. Despite being written nearly 110 years ago there is a strange element of modernity to it - the writing and references aren’t but more the tone and my overall relationship with the book. For a quick plot summary it follows the protagonist Maurice Hall over roughly ten years (14-24) where he comes of age and into himself, encountering two love affairs with his Cambridge equal Clive Durham and later the gamekeeper Alec Scudder. Evidently things happen but I believe to get the best experience out of ‘Muarice’ you should go into it knowing little of the plot - all I knew of it was that it’s a gay classic. Something I love about this book was the way Forester writes the characters as very real with good qualities but their flaws too, this was just amazing and I could totally see them in the flesh. Additionally, the ending with its ambiguity was great, I guess I did want more and this can be said for most of the book in all honestly, it was one I could easily have read a 500 page version, not just 230 - that being said, the impact and conciseness of the book would likely have been impacted. I don’t think there’s anything I didn’t like really, it’s a very accessible classic, flows great with a clear structure, great characters and wholly an enjoyable experience. I also listened to the audiobook narrated by Ben Whishaw which I absolutely loved, his voice totally suites an Edwardian-era gay man and again I’d so recommend ‘reading’ it this way too (I got it via BorrowBox with my local library)

Now to hear my ultimate favourite part of this book I have to put a SPOILER WARNING on it first. Being written when homosexuality was still criminalised and a little over 50 years since it was punishable by death in the UK, in the context of many (well little did) books demonising queer people or having endings where they die (naturally, by suicide or are killed), the fact the ending of ‘Maurice’ is a happy one is truly delightful. It’s amazing and one I didn’t really expect so… yay. If it had been published when written in 1913-14, it would likely have changed many of other queer literature to follow but we’d never know. The author’s terminal note and David Leavitt’s introduction in my ‘Penguins Classics’ edition (that I read after completing the novel) are also fascinating reads and one’s I’d really recommend. In the former Forester makes the remark ‘A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and this sense Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.’ I find this amazing and in some essence changed the way I viewed the ending with both men escaping the confines of Clive’s estate but also the British society at the time that was unwilling to accept a happy ending for a gay couple. Additionally, the reader is kept in the dark regarding their future, maybe I wished for that epilogue at first but now I see that letting our imagine run wild is a far better consequence.

I do want to give this book a reread and possibly annotate it but for now I’ve a few quotes to share.

‘The storm had been working up not for three days as he supposed, but for six years. It had brewed in the obscurities of being where no eye pierces, his surroundings had thickened it. It had burst and he had not died. The brilliancy of day was around him, he sood upon the mountain range that overshadows youth, he saw.’ - exploring his personal awakening to what and who he is, quite relatable

‘“I should have gone through life half awake if you'd had the decency to leave me alone. Awake intellectually, yes, and emotionally in a way; but here -“ He pointed with his pipe stem to his heart; and both smiled, “Perhaps we woke up one another. I like to think that anyway.”

“When did you first care about me?”

“Don't ask me,” echoed Clive.

“Oh, be a bit serious - well - what was it in me you first cared?”

“Like really to know?” asked Clive, who was in the mood Maurice adored - half mischierous, half passionate; a mood of supreme affection.

“Yes.”

“Well, it was your beauty.”

“My what?”

“Beauty... I used to admire that man over the bookcase most.”

"I can give points to a picture, I dare say,” said Maurice, having glanced at the Michelangelo. “Clive, you're a silly little fool, and since you've brought it up I think you're beautiful, the only beautiful person I've ever seen. I love your voice and everything to do with you, down to your clothes or the room

you are sitting in. I adore you.”’ - so sweet

‘“Maurice - I'm a fool.”

“Be a fool,” said Maurice…’ - sometimes us best to be one, no?

‘“Will the law ever be that in England?”

“I doubt it. England has always been disinclined to accept human nature.”

Maurice understood. He was an Englishman himself, and only his troubles had kept him awake. He smiled sadly. “It comes to this then: there always have been people like me and always will be, and generally they have been persecuted.”

“That is so, Mr Hall; or, as psychiatry prefers to put it, there has been, is and always will be every conceivable type of person. And you must remember that your type was once put to death in England.”

Was it really? On the other hand, they could get away. England wasn't all built over and policed. Men of my sort could take to the greenwood…”’ - I love the notion (expanded on in Leavitt’s introduction) how Forester makes the rural the place for queer escapism and freedom and not the urban centre like other books did and still do often do, rather refreshing and an interesting take

‘After all, is not a real Hell better than a manufactured Heaven?’ - is it? Maybe?

‘Love had failed. Love was an emotion through which you occasionally enjoyed yourself. It could not do things.’

Content Warnings

issyd23's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

‘I’ve not been straight with you’ ‘indeed Mr Hall’ Happy pride! 4🏏

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ferrot_lectorapromedio's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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juliarose11's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

thesawyerbean's review

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this! The aesthetics and romance were tangible - as someone who studied at Cambridge, the descriptions of old-time Cambridge dark academia and the socialisation within it were engrossing and vivid. We experienced Maurice’s life and love as he did, a whirlwind of emotion and politics that felt both troubling and endearing.

It is a slow burn for sure, simmering with intensity but not boring at any point. Clive and Maurice’s blossoming romance was tense but ultimately beautiful - and the following events between them and Alec were at first devastating but finally satisfying.

A pleasure to read as one of the trailblazers of lgbtq+ literature - written in 1914 and only published in 1971 posthumously, following the legalisation of homosexuality in England.

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cheuksin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

‘I’m an unspeakable of the Oscar Wilde sort.’
Possibly of my favourite classics. It’s nice to read an LGBTQIA classic that doesn’t involve people dying, or meeting some other incredibly tragic end. I would definitely read it a second time. I would recommend.

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srm's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Content Warnings

rieviolet's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I've been meaning to read this book for so long and, for one reason or another, I kept postponing it but what a mistake, I really really loved it! It was not an easy read emotionally, the characters go through a lot and are not always likeable but it is a very engaging narrative and it makes you feel deeply. Also, the final payoff is so worth the very bumpy road to get there, bless you E.M. Forster.
Maurice's final speech to Clive was just *chief's kiss*, so so satisfying, I was in the background cheering him on and screaming "You tell him, you tell him!".

The prose was so rich and impactful, I've just finished reading it and I can't wait
to immerse myself in it again in the future.

His journey was nearly over. He was bound for his new home. He had brought out the man in Alec, and now it was Alec’s turn to bring out the hero in him. He knew what the call was, and what his answer must be. They must live outside class, without relations or money; they must work and stick to each other till death. But England belonged to them. That, besides companionship, was their reward. Her air and sky were theirs, not the timorous millions' who own stuffy little boxes, but never their own souls.

The novel had already been a roller coaster of emotions and then came the author's terminal word and I have to say he finished me off for good, but what a lovely way to go, what a lovely way! I hope we will come to an even kinder year.

A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and in this sense Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood. I dedicated it ‘To a Happier Year’ and not altogether vainly.

And in my experience though loyalty cannot be counted on it can always be hoped for and be worked towards and may flourish in the most unlikely soil.

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